Steves87

I have sent a postal letter to Dale, hopefully I get a reply.

Thanks again Paris, I hope this is all. I plan to send him a traditional letter this week, hopefully he responds.

Hi All, just wondering if anyone has heard from Dale (spartancrest) since the 22nd of Jan. I keep in fairly regular contact with him out side of the forum (almost daily) but i haven't heard from him since the 22nd of Jan. If you have heard from him or know if he was off jet-setting or something, can you please send me a pm. Thanks

Kaga Yoshiro Mon is another well known user of square hitsu-ana

Myochin plugs only, or can we make it an any school-Plugs thread?

Dan, I feel you are hugely dismissive of my opinions, on every one of my opinions. Just so you are aware, I have a background in metals technology that was started from an interest at the age of about 9yo. I have been studying Tsuba (not exclusively) since I was a teenager, and I have tried my hand at making them (with inlays) for about 5 years. I have been collecting authentic Edo Tsuba for over 10 years, and last year (2024) I spent the much of the year with the conservation department at a well known museum, as well as giving advice to history curators on related Tsuba details. I also have a formal education in curation, and I have a proven record of correct object identification through photo images. Using the correct Australian-Scillian terminology, I feel like a dick head for tooting my own horn, and ill likely never spew this out again... but I do want you to know that I am not an dumb-ass. The original Tsuba of this thread is very very very likely hand made and subsequently, accidentally, been in contact with extreme high temperatures, causing a surface transformation (either through coatings or iron impurities) which has given the appearance of melted (even cast) iron (that is why the pine needles look wierd). The areas that are missing are where this surface transformation has chipped off. Chipped off likely due to oxidisation of the 'still good' iron core. The exposed iron has since been treated to some degree... this is something I have seen on multiple occasions in the conservation departments, and when assessing acquisitions within certain museum departments. I still think you should research cast Tsuba, but start looking at the 'known examples' in all museum collections, versus the date of DONATOR acquisition.

Here is an example (thereabouts) of how it should look with the two shi shi

Guys, that is clearly missing inlay... they are in the shape of shi shi !! There is no alternate construction there, just Suemon-zogan that has been lost

Thank Jean, that is exactly why I went for it! It is hard to see from the image, but both Hitsu-ana are added in the same way.

Like the post from Curran, this Tsuba is also concave both sides (Hoiteibara)

I am doubting the external finish is soft, but instead,very hard and brittle.... as per the info in the second half of the gpt image I shared. The Tsuba example I gave earlier in the thread is like this, some flaked off years ago and it was way harder than the iron interior, to the point that it didnt indent like iron should, but just "snapped"... i wish I had of put a magnet on it back then. Also, as per that second gpt part, it does make mention of coatings causing an encasement... take the finish look that it mentions with a grain of salt though.

Dan, for sure you should explore this... but do not lose sight of the knowledge that fires were very common in Edo Japan... you will need to prove that this was done purposefully (which I personally do not believe) as opposed to "accidently" caught in fire incidents (which I do believe is the case)

In high school many years ago we learnt about re-heating sand-iron and how it forms a shell... i forget the context of why we learnt this, and I don't care enough today to look into it further (happy new year by the way!) But a quick gpt brings up this: Click for clearer image. So it could be this too...

Dan, I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but if you can find more cast Tsuba in museum collections and cross reference them with: donor life span, donation date, and date donor likely acquired them (by known expeditions).... you may get closer to an edo period 'confirmed' casting. There are a lot of museum collections that hold Tsuba acquired by westerners pre-1900... the major museums will likely have larger collections and better records, but there will be a ton more smaller museums which are more likely to hold cast Tsuba. Might be a wild goose chase, but you might also discover a cast Tsuba that was acquired during an expedition shortly after the mid 1880's, that eventually ended up as a museum donation.